• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제1권3호
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• pp.39-48
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• 2009

Previous studies on the effects of speaking rate on voice onset time (VOT) of stops in English, French, Icelandic, and Thai indicate that speaking rate asymmetrically affects VOT values. That is, pre-voiced and long-lag stops vary due to the rate factor more than short-lag stops do. One suggested explanation for this asymmetry is that it is due to the necessity of maintaining phonetic contrasts among the stop categories. Since pre-voiced and long-lag stops represent the ends of the VOT scale, they encompass broad swathes of that range and consequently allow for large variations. On the other hand, the VOT variations of short-lag stops may result in overlap with the VOTs of long-lag stops. This study aimed to explore the effects of speaking rate on the VOTs of Korean stops and see whether Korean fortis and lenis stops are limited in the degrees of variation as a function of rates due to the existence of stops with larger VOT values, lenis and aspirated stops respectively. Conversely, aspirated stops were expected to show more variation since there are no other categories with longer VOTs. Fortis, lenis, and aspirated stops in /CVn/ words (C = bilabial or velar stop, V = /i/ or /a/) were examined in isolation, and at normal and fast rates in a carrier sentence. Speaking rates were controlled by alternating words or sentences on a computer screen at intervals of two seconds for the isolation- and normal-rate conditions and one second for the fast-rate condition. This study found that while the VOTs of fortis stops did not change significantly, those of lenis and aspirated stops showed considerable changes as a function of speaking rates. Also, overlap between lenis and aspirated stops occurred considerably at all speaking rates. These phenomena were interpreted to relate to the fact that VOT contrasts between lenis and aspirated stops in Korean are currently being collapsed. Large variations of lenis stops as a function of rates seem to occur due to a weak motivation to limit the degree of variations for the purpose of maintaining phonetic contrasts. The significant overlap between lenis and aspirated stops at all rates was interpreted to occur because the VOT merger between the two categories became considerably fixed. Also the percentage of correctly-classified VOTs by optimal-boundary values between lenis and aspirated stops turned out to be lower than in previously-studied languages. This was interpreted to be further evidence that VOTs are losing their role in contrasting the two stop categories in Korean.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제12권4호
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• pp.1-8
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• 2020

전통적으로 서울 방언의 어두 평음과 격음은 voice onset time(VOT)에 의해 일차적으로 변별된다고 알려져 있다. 그러나 최근 발화 연구에서는 평음과 격음 간 존재하던 VOT값의 차이가 줄어들고 이차적 변별자질이었던 후행 모음의 fundamental frequency(F0)가 평음과 격음을 변별하는 데 일차적 역할을 수행하게 되는 변화가 관찰되고 있다. 본 연구는 산출 영역에서 관찰되는 이와 같은 변화가 지각 영역에서도 관찰되는 지 알아보고자 하였다. 구체적으로, 평음과 격음을 지각할 때 VOT와 F0 변별력을 알아보기 위해 VOT값과 F0값을 10단계로 조작한 음성 자극을 이용하여 식별 과제를 실시하였다. 청년과 노년 남녀를 대상으로 실험을 실시한 결과, 네 집단 모두에서 VOT와 F0가 평음과 격음을 변별하는 데 사용되지만 VOT에 비해 F0의 변별력이 더 큰 것을 확인하였다. 또한, F0 변별력에서는 성별과 연령에 따른 차이가 없었으나 VOT 변별력은 청년여성 집단이 가장 낮고 노년남성 집단이 가장 큰 양상으로 성별 및 연령에 따른 차이를 관찰할 수 있었다. 본 연구는 그동안 주로 발화 연구에서 보고돼오던 평음과 격음 대립의 VOT 및 F0 사용에서의 변화를 지각 영역으로 확대하여 그 양상을 살펴보았다는 점에서 의의가 있다.